CLF-C02 Cloud Technology and Services Practice Question
A company wants to implement a serverless web application with no server management. They need a database that scales automatically without managing cluster capacity. Which combination best supports this?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse 'serverless' with 'managed services'—for example, assuming Amazon RDS or Aurora Serverless are fully serverless when they still require some capacity management or have scaling limitations, whereas DynamoDB on-demand truly eliminates all capacity planning.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
AWS Lambda + API Gateway + Amazon DynamoDB on-demand
AWS Lambda + API Gateway + Amazon DynamoDB on-demand provides a fully serverless architecture where Lambda handles compute without server management, API Gateway serves as the HTTP endpoint, and DynamoDB on-demand scales automatically based on traffic without requiring capacity planning or cluster management. This combination meets the requirement for zero server management and automatic scaling of the database.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon EC2 + RDS MySQL
Why it's wrong here
Amazon EC2 with RDS MySQL is a managed but not serverless architecture. You must select and manage EC2 instance types, configure scaling policies, patch the operating system, and handle capacity planning for both compute and the RDS instance. Even with RDS automating database administration, the compute layer still requires constant operational overhead, so it fails the zero-managed-infrastructure requirement.
- ✓
AWS Lambda + API Gateway + Amazon DynamoDB on-demand
Why this is correct
This combination forms a fully serverless architecture. AWS Lambda runs code in response to events without provisioning or managing servers, API Gateway handles HTTP routing and request/response translation with automatic scaling, and DynamoDB on-demand mode eliminates capacity planning by scaling throughput up or down based on actual traffic. There are no servers, clusters, or container definitions to manage, and you pay only for requests and consumed capacity.
- ✗
AWS Fargate + Amazon Aurora Serverless
Why it's wrong here
AWS Fargate is a serverless compute engine for containers, but you still define task definitions, specify CPU/memory, and manage container images, making it more operational overhead than Lambda for simple HTTP APIs. Aurora Serverless provides a serverless database, but the overall architecture still requires container orchestration and configuration. For a simple, fully serverless API, Lambda is a better fit because it abstracts away all infrastructure.
- ✗
Amazon EC2 + DynamoDB on-demand
Why it's wrong here
Although DynamoDB on-demand is serverless and autoscales without capacity management, Amazon EC2 is not—you must provision and manage virtual servers, handle patches, and monitor instances. The compute layer remains a manual, non-serverless component, forcing you to deal with availability, scaling, and maintenance. A serverless architecture requires both compute and data layers to be serverless, so this combination is incomplete.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CLF-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CLF-C02 exam.